HOW TO PHOTOGRAPH YOUR BABY’S FIRST MONTHS OF LIFE [BASED ON MY OWN EXPERIENCE]

Before I begin, I must warn you that this article will be more practical than theoretical, more based on experience than on training, more motivational than technical and even at the risk that you stop reading it, I will tell you that it is also more sentimental than artistic . When you read it you will understand it better, but I am going to write you from the experience and with the heart because for technical advice there are already many articles. Without going any further, here in the blog you have a few very interesting, like this or this , we even have an entire article dedicated to common mistakes in baby photography (which your little one will never forgive you) and which of course you should avoid in the extent possible. And I say this because it is not the same to portray your neighbor's baby, your friend, your nephews ... than your own baby. No, it definitely has nothing to do with it. And I tell you with knowledge of cause. In this article I am not going to try to teach you anything, I will simply give you some advice from my humble experience as a photographer of my baby, which is not a little, because as you know, there is nothing like the experience to learn (of the good and of the bad ) If you are still reading this, chances are you are expecting a baby or have had it recently, so before continuing: congratulations! You have entered the most difficult but prettiest stage of your life. How are you not going to portray it? !! Here are my humble tips for this hard work.

DON'T GET FRUSTRATED, ESPECIALLY AT THE BEGINNING

This is not a race, you don't have to show anyone how well you do the photos. It's the first months of your baby and what you want is to immortalize it, capture every detail, every important moment, because they never come back, they fade away as quickly as they arrive and you can't feel them again, the only way to revive them or savor them again is to through your memory, which is a treacherous and leaves memories forgotten in the corners no matter how much you try to pick them up again and again, or through photography, those little pieces of paper that serve as remnants of memory. You like photography, that's why you're reading this article and that's why you're not content to just shoot and save the memory, and you do well, because if in addition to the memory you get a nice photo, you'll appreciate it in time, but you should not become obsessed and I mean that it is not about getting the photo of the year. If what you want is a professional photo of newborn, in which the baby is asleep with a perfect position, so well placed, in that beautiful blanket ... we go something like the following image, if you do not get it, do not fustigues, hire To someone professional.

If you want a professional job, look for one

How?!!! Surely you just put your hands to your head! What a article ... you will be thinking, that instead of telling me how to take the picture, it sends me to a professional! It has a clear explanation. I do not know if your level of photography is beginner or advanced, you may take some spectacular photographs, but if your baby has not yet arrived, you do not know what you are facing !! If you are the father, you will have it a little easier (just a little), but since you are the mother and you have opted for breastfeeding, I warn you that you will have it complicated. When a baby comes home, your whole world turns upside down, the first days are difficult, precious, yes, but very difficult and very hard. In this case it is not about shooting speeds, focal lengths, ISO and all these parameters that we talk about normally, it is a little person who comes to your world to break all your schemes, routines, schedules and others. He needs attention twenty-four hours a day, sixty minutes of every hour and sixty seconds of every minute. And this is so. And the few minutes I can leave you free you need them for a thousand other things, such as cleaning up, making food, picking up household items, resting ... and if you are the mother, add the physical recovery of giving birth. These photos are obtained in the first days of your baby's life and your role now is to be the father or mother, not the photography professional, better relax and enjoy watching the session, you will have time later to photograph your day to day , its moments, the most special and important moments. But the first days are chaos and if you expect to do a perfect job, you may not get it and realize it too late. I got mad at me for not achieving the images I had imagined with my baby. I wanted pictures of her in the poses I had seen a thousand times and nothing, my little girl woke up every time she smelled me close, literally. He didn't like to be face down and face up naked at all because he doesn't hear either. And look that the room was warm, I had her bundled up in a little gasket, or in a blanket, but nothing, she wasn't like other babies, it was special (like everyone, everyone is their own way) so I got frustrated, and a lot. Until I understood that the important thing was to enjoy my daughter and portray her special moments, her face, her day to day. That what tomorrow would value would be, above all, to have photos that told him how he arrived in the world and that is what I will want to remember tomorrow. The following tips go in this line,

TELL HIM YOUR STORY

1. Portrays the preparations. Do not wait for birth, you can start photographing the preparations or show the illusion that makes you come.

The wait

2. Photograph your baby with the family. Make sure everyone has a picture with your baby, separately, in pairs or in a group, but that he has a memory of when he met his family and the happy face they put on. And if he has little brothers or cousins, then you can't stop portraying them together!

Siblings

With the family

3. Immortalize your birth data . Make a reminder of the day and time you were born, how much you weighed and measured ...

Birth reminder

4. The importance of details. When they are so tiny, their body parts are so adorable! Those little pieces, their beautiful and tiny hands, the skin (skin) of the first days ... immortalize all those details, they go very fast.

Before your little feet or your hands grow, retract them.

5. Portrays its evolution. Show your growth by portraying your baby in the same place or with the same object every month or week, then you can make a montage and see how it has been changing.

Capture your evolution

6. Gifts or "dear" objects. Is she wearing a clothes that was yours or that a family member has woven with all the love in the world? Or a toy? Then take a picture with this, tomorrow that clothes or that toy may no longer exist, but the photo will remain for the memory. 7. Gestures. Each baby has its own gestures and expressions, and these can change for days, weeks or stay for life. If you can capture any, when he grows he will be funny.

His gestures and expressions are part of him

8. Moments. All the moments are special, they have their side more and less beautiful, but it is a joy when it takes a little time to have photographs of them all, the moment of bathing, food, tickling, laughter, sleeping in arms ... It's not about doing a marathon one day, always have the camera at hand and one day you take pictures in the bathroom, another day tickle ... enjoy your baby and photography, do not stress that this is not the goal

Moments of everyday life

9. Your first time. There will be a first time in which the foot is bitten, in which it crawls, in which it shows a tooth, in which it makes palms ... if you portray those moments your photographic album will also serve as a graphic diary of your progress (if you put the date, of course ). 10. Projects (one photo per day, one photo per week, per month ...). You can propose projects, for example take a photo a day during the first month, or a photo a week at different times of the day, this also serves as a graphic diary and as a personal challenge. Here is the example of a photographer, her daughter is already over one year old but can serve as an inspiration. 11. Self-portraits. Ride your tripod, grab the remote trigger and while you spend a happy time with your baby, shoot from time to time. If you are the one who normally takes the photos, you will eventually realize that you have hundreds of photos of your baby and many others of your baby with the rest of the family, but with you you will have few. 12. Exteriors. Do not limit yourself to photographs at home, when you go out for a walk, the first time you see the sea, or go on a field trip. Portray all those moments so when you grow up you can tell it while viewing the images.

The baby and the world

13. Make close-ups. Babies change for weeks, or almost days, make many close-ups so that all these faces are portrayed forever. If you try to remember them it will be impossible, but when you see the photos you will remember those days perfectly.

Close-ups

CAPTURE EMOTIONS

Sometimes the important thing will not be to look for a good background or to study the framing, but to be fast enough to capture a special, emotional moment. That is the advantage you have over a professional photographer, since he or she is 3 or 4 hours with your baby, but you are all day, every day. This is your real job, photograph those moments.

Special moments

CREATIVITY TO POWER

If you are good at editing or you feel like playing, you can do things like this. We have already said many times that creativity has no limits, do not put them with your baby. Here are some creative ideas to photograph your little one .

Be original

A little imagination never hurts

THAT LAZINESS DOES NOT DEFEAT YOU

Print your photos on paper, do not accumulate on the hard disk because there will come a day when you can get dizzy as you say suddenly print the three hundred thousand and twenty-seven photos you have taken to your baby and end up not taking any. And if you want ideas to do with the photos here you have 21 creative ideas (although they are for holiday photos they are useful for any theme ) Do not accumulate repeated images. If you take ten almost equal photos (yes, that happens a lot, that we have left the finger stuck in the trigger), when you download them stay with the one you like and delete the rest, no matter how much it hurts in your soul ( I will repeat this one hundred times), but why do you want so much equal photo, better not to take up memory and take more photos at other times or different situations, right?

OTHER GENERAL TIPS

1. Plan . If you plan to make a session, plan how it will be, what clothes you want to put on it, what blanket or what background you will use and have a reservation in case it gets stained (it is easy to regurgitate or pee). Do not improvise or you may run out of photo because you are hungry, wake up or get tired. 2. Seek help. When making a session with your baby, find a helper. It is convenient for someone to be at your side at all times, it can also help you hold a fund or anything else you need. I can assure you that doing it alone or alone greatly complicates the task. 3. Always have the camera handy , charged and with space on the card. Or else you will lose unique moments. 4. Take care of the funds. Try not to take in the photo elements that distract attention and lessen your baby's role. Also try that the mixture of colors or clothes of different colors and prints do not divert attention.

Avoid distractions in the image

5. Black and white. Do not forget the black and white photos, they are beautiful, they are timeless and focus all the attention on your baby. Of course, shoot in color and then turn it to black and white.

Don't forget black and white

6. Respect your baby. As a mother or father, you know that your baby is the most important thing, if you see that it is not the time to take pictures because it is not comfortable, leave it for another time, your well-being is the most important. 7. Avoid the flash, as much as possible. And I don't mean to harm you, there is debate about whether it affects or not. I mean it bothers them. Especially to newborns. If an adult is bothered by a flash, imagine a baby, especially a newborn who has spent the last nine months in the dark! If you have to use it because you do not have natural light, bounce it, or better use the continuous light of a light window. 8. Focus your eyes well. Unless what you want is to highlight your mouth, for example, make sure the eyes are always well focused. I hope these tips help you, I wish someone had told me before! I wish you all the happiness in the world with your baby and that you take some beautiful and enjoying photos. If you think this article may interest someone else, don't forget to share it on Facebook, Google + or Twitter. Infinite thanks for reading here and until next time!